Jael Holzman received the message while she was busy planning a tripemailing sources and booking a rental car. She also reached out to contacts. One contact found out she was heading oThey asked Nevada, who was accompanying her to Thacker Pass at a proposed site for a lithium mine, if she was going on her own.
Holzman is a journalist covering the mining industry for E&E News in Washington, D.C. The controversial lithium mine is located in an ecologically sensitive location on the site where Paiute tribe members were killed in 1865. Native groups are considered sacred on the land. This site is at the heart of one of the most important environmental stories of our time, due to how vital lithium will be in the production of electric vehicles and other renewable energy technologies. Projected to grow 70-fold by 2040. The Thacker Pass protest camp It has attracted media attention from all over the globe. Holzman explained to me that she had many stories to pursue during her trip.
Holzman is trans, unlike other reporters who visited the site. The source informed her that Max Wilbert (the Thacker Pass camp administrator) and Will Falk (the two activists who ran it) were part of Deep Green Resistance. This radical environmentalist group has a history of making transphobic statements.
All those who predicted that Big Brother would arrive wearing a gown, hauling anyone refusing to wax their ladyballs before the human rights tribunal, bellowing Its maam! Read the Opening of an essayWritten by Wilbert, the two co-founders Deep Green Resistance 2019, published in Feminist Current a Canadian online magazine.
In a rambling FAQDGR claims, on their website, that they are not transphobic as a group and emphasizes that they do not condone violence or dehumanization against anyone, even trans people. DGR doesn’t allow trans women (whom DGR describes as men) to enter women-only areas. It also calls hormone treatment for trans children medical erasures of gay and lesbian youths and eugenics.
Holzman started to transition during the pandemic. She considers herself fortunate to have had a relatively comfortable and safe transition. She said that it was intense to receive this message.
It was the first thing I had ever heard that the place I was required to go to work could cause me physical harm. I was worried about what would happen to me if I didn’t pass the test if they had me clocked.
Holzman published her Bombshell reportingThe rift DGR members transphobic remarks have caused among former allies at Thacker pass late last month on E&E News. Holzman did not just find a story that many cis journalists missed. There are lessons to learn from the left-oriented transphobia Deep Green Resistance members encourage. This is a warning for the future of the environmental movement.
Holzman said that transphobia was not something that anyone expected to be a problem within the environmental movement. It is possible to assume that you are fighting for the environment and also for the people living in it. This is not always true.
How left-oriented transphobia is infiltrating environmental activist spaces
In January 2021, the mines permit was approved. The Protect Thacker Pass camp was established. Falk became an attorney representing People of Red Mountain, an Indigenous group that challenged the mine. Wilbert became a media spokesperson for the larger fight against Thacker Pass and was quoted in outlets such the New York Times, InsideClimate News, The Nation, CNN.
Patrick Donnelly, the Great Basin Director of the Center for Biological Diversity, stated that Wilbert is a loudmouthed white man who works with the media a lot. (Donnelly is not involved in the fight against Thacker Pass but is Nevada’s proposed lithium mine is being foughtHe is well-versed in the activities at Thacker Pass.
The People of Red Mountain were first informed by DGRs views about trans people. Holzman reportedThe group ended its relationship with Falk and Protect Thacker pass. Holzman wrote that a spokesperson for the group specifically mentioned Deep Green Resistances views regarding transgender people as the reason they parted ways. People of Red Mountain spokesperson didn’t confirm or deny the reasons for the group’s split with Falk to Earther. He stated instead that PRM has one mission, which is to stop lithium extraction. Wilbert, who isn’t a lawyer, stated that Falk had to withdraw his representation of People of Red Mountain (PRM), due to a conflict of interests with the Protect Thacker Pass collective as well as ethical concerns regarding Rules of Professional Conduct. He accused PRM of making false statements, interfering in the Protect Thacker Pass campaign.
Yessenia Funes, a former Earther staff reporter, is now at Atmos This week’s reportMany Indigenous cultures held different views about gender and sexuality, including the existence of two-spirit persons before Western colonization. In recent years, Indigenous-led climate movements have begun to embrace two-spirit leadership. This began with gender-neutral bathrooms at Camp Dakota Access Pipeline protest in 2016. (DGRs FAQ) IncludesAnswering a question about two-spirit people’s existence, he said that the group refused to be identified.[s]It is easy to simplify the world’s complexity.
Protect Thacker Pass WebsiteWhile Holzman doesn’t mention DGR in his interview, Lierre, one of DGR’s founders, said that the group acts like a fiscal umbrella for Protect Thacker Pass. Earther learned that Wilbert is a contracted worker for DGR.
Deep Green Resistance was founded in 2011 by Keith Jensen, Derrick Jensen and Aric McBayall, long-term left-wing and environmental activists. They wrote a book with the same title, arguing that a serious resistance movement to the industrial economy is essential to save the planet. According to them, ecofeminism is an integral part of the group’s purpose.
Gender isn’t something you do naturally, it’s not something you choose, or something you feel. It is the structure that women are subject to, DGRs. Statement of PrinciplesIts website reads: Attempts at creating more options within the sexcaste system only serve as a reinforcement of the brutal realities and male power.
People who are not familiar with modern transphobia may overlook it or mistakenly interpret it as committed feminism. DGRs media products make it clear that transphobia is an integral part of environmental advocacy. The group produces a podcast, The Green FlameWilbert has hosted several episodes of, which have featured interviews with prominent figures who have expressed transphobic views. For instance, a December episode hosted by Jennifer Murnan, Wilbert’s co-host (sans Wilbert). blogger Jennifer Bilek, who, Facebook, said shes often wondered why so many of the men involved in the transgender/transhumanist agenda are jewish, Positively citing A videoKeith Woods A frequent GuestOn White nationalist Richard Spencers livestreams. (Wilbert said to Earther, Me and my fellow friends condemn antisemitism as well as all conspiracy theories that are antisemitic in the strongest terms. Jensen has appeared on Keith Woods podcastJensen did no reply to a request for comment in 2020.
Episode of Bileks The Green FlameShe portrayed transitioning as a plan by the medical industrial to push hormones, other forms of gender-affirming treatment, on the public. Jazz Jennings, a well known transgender teenager, was repeatedly misgendered. (This episode was made private by DGRs YouTube channel after our requests for comment. It was also removed recently. The Green Flamewebsite, Spotify, Apple and Stitcher (though Google still caches them).
Jensen hosts an independent radio show. Derrick Jensen Resistance Radio,Similar format: Interviews with environmental experts alternate with interviews with those who hold transphobic views. His recent guests include Graham Linehan, a former TV writer who was Twitter permanently suspendedFor hateful and violent conduct Nazi experiments were compared to transgender youth medical treatment. (He has previously denied being anti-trans, despite His long history of antitransgender activism.) Jensen also hosted Kara Dansky (The Green Flame was also a fan.), who recently Tucker Carlson, appeared, claiming trans health clinics were Eugenics Centers. Say itThe meaning of words such as gender identity is not clear. A book by Dansky was titled The Abolition of Sex: How Transgender Agenda Harms Girls and Women It has She was publicly identifiedAs #TeamTERF. Although Linehan and Dansky appeared on the podcast episodes uploaded onto the DGR YouTube channel, they do not appear to have any public association or involvement with environmental causes or efforts. Jensen asked us why Jensen invited them to his podcast. We will update this post if Jensen responds.
Holzman was not able to get any comments from Wilbert or Falk about their views on gender. The Protect Thacker Pass website does not mention ecofeminism. Holzman’s knowledge of the group was enough to keep her on guard as she and Wilbert toured the camp together.
What I remember most [about visiting the camp]She said that I didn’t let go of my keys at all. I thought, I’m not going to be alone in this space with anyone.
Transphobia is not a radical concept
DGR members’ statements refer to transphobia as a new, corrupt phenomenon. This is in contrast to right-wing transphobia which is closely linked with homophobia and religious panic. Ari Drennen is the LGBTQ Program Director at Media Matters. He explained that transphobia is not a new phenomenon. The United States has laws that prohibit you from dressing contrary to the gender assigned at birth. dates back to the 1840s. DGR messagings transphobic ideology seems to be derived specifically from a form 1970s radical feminismHence, trans-exclusionary feminist has become a more common term.
Drennen stated that Drennen hesitated to use the term radical to describe any kind of trans-exclusionary feminist. There is nothing radical about liking trans people. It is a deeply conservative view of what it means to live today that to have your sex at birth is like a scarlet letter that will impact your entire life.
Deep Green Resistance has faced criticism for its views before. McBay was one of the original authors for the 2011 book. He left the organization after Derrick Jensen’s and Lierre Keith cancelled a trans inclusive policy. He wrote it on his website. For this reason, many good people and good activists quit the organization. Meanwhile, Jensen and Keith have DisputedDGRs views regarding trans people made it difficult for a publisher to publish a new book.
The group has been able to remain relevant in mainstream environmental conversations thanks to the inability to link trans issues and the environment in many activists minds. Donnelly, director of the Center for Biological Diversity, was himself a Jensens podcast 2020 guest. Donnelly said that Jensen’s 2000 book on radical environmentalism was very influential for him as a young activist. He had agreed to be on Jensens podcast, without doing any additional research into the authors views. (Donnelly sheepishly said that Jensens 2000 book did not contain any explicit gender-related content.
The front-line activism and emphasis on marginalized people can be used as a front for left-wing Transphobia. DGR hosted a livestream fundraising event in December Trailer trailerAs an event dedicated to ecofeminism. But during the LivestreamKeith began a diatribe on trans people whom she called genderists. She compares people who get gender-affirming operations to people who glorify eating disorders. The event featured a performance from a folk singerTransactivism is misogyny according to those who publicly believe it.
Cayte Bosler was the host of the livestream. She was a journalist who had previously reported on Thacker Pass. InsideClimate News. Bosler stated in an email that the event was about women environmental activists when she was invited to host it. She also said that she had heard the viewpoints of the participants live for the first time with the audience. She wrote that beyond that event, she has never had any direct involvement with DGR womens group, and has never discussed their views regarding transgender people with them. We asked DGR to verify that Bosler’s account is correct. If they respond, we will update this post.
The Danger Ahead
It would be easy to conclude that DGR has become an extreme eco-outlier. They hold some truly bizarre beliefs, such as that of the savage wolf. Industrial civilization as a wholeNeeds to be dismantled. It would be a neat rhetorical end to say that Thacker pass taught us that trans people are needed in environmental journalism and in the overall movement. Although true, this simplifies the situation.
As Funes Atmos wroteSome Indigenous activists claim that colonial transphobic perspectives brought into the country by outsiders like Falk or Wilbert can hinder community work and healing. Holzman stressed that transphobia is often manifested as skepticism regarding the existence of and the need to receive medical treatment for gender dysphoria. Broad scientific consensus. The environmental community as a whole should be prepared to oppose anti-science claims, such as the ones DGR is making. It is dangerous to allow junk science like transphobia in an environmental coalition.
Tolerance of transphobia in the environment opens the door to right-wing actors taking advantage Carlson used Dansky on his program to bring attention to these voices. Dansky was portrayed as a left wing feminist who is only concerned about women. Drennen said that right-wing figures are eager to find these anti-trans left wing voices to declare, Look, this is a main issue, even though you see most people just not activated by it.
Theres even deeper danger. Fasist movements around the world have grown in recent decades. The environmental movement has been alerted to the threat of ecofascism. Climate change and the environmentTheir racist killing sprees may be partially justified by this belief. The belief that climate is a left-wing issue, which falls under the purview traditionally liberal activists, seems to be deeply ingrained in the culture. During the Capitol Insurrection in January, rumors surfaced briefly on Twitter about a rumor that one of those rioters, also known as the QAnon Shahan, was a paid actor. He had attended an Arizona climate march. In fact, he is. Simply an ecofascist. Failure to recognize that fascist elements such as racism or transphobia can and do coexist peacefully with activists who care for the environment allows these movements to grow.
Drennen stated that trans-exclusionary, also known as feministsits a hate group. Infiltrating other spaces is a common tactic used by hate movements to recruit others for their cause.
